The best thing I ate this week: Braised pork with rice and gravy from Noble South

MOBILE, Alabama -- If you had to eat out for one meal this week, what would you eat?

Would you go for a dozen oysters at Wintzell's storied oyster house or would you spring for a steak at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse? Or would you get a bacon cheeseburger from Heroe's Sports Bar (with smoked cheddar cheese) or go with any of the seafood offerings from Felix's Fish Camp on the Causeway?

It's a tough call. Coastal Alabama is blessed with a huge number of tasty restaurants, drive-ins, cafes and other fine-dining establishments. Figuring out where to go takes on even more importance since for most of us, dining out is a luxury and something not to be taken lightly. To be sure, it's a bona fide dilemma.

That's where I come in. Starting today I'm kicking off a weekly series published every Thursday designed to help you figure out what to eat. Instead of a traditional restaurant review, it's more of my recommendation for what you should eat on your night (or lunch) on the town.

We are calling this epic venture The Best Thing I Ate This Week and it will be just that – the best thing that I have had to eat in the past few days, though in this case it was more than a week ago. (I had to make sure I got this first one just right.) I know, not a bad job, right?

For the first version of this feature I have selected a new restaurant in downtown Mobile that is fast becoming a dining destination. Noble South is located at 203 Dauphin St. in a building that most recently was home to a Thai restaurant.

It's a small menu, one that changes daily and seasonally. It is a true farm-to-table menu in that all ingredients are sourced locally when possible. That, I found out, was the point. "We buy, I'd say, 90 percent of our goods from farms locally; the farthest away we go is a small farm near New Orleans," said Chef Chris Rainosek.

Since I am a sucker for anything to do with pork, my weary eyes went right to the braised pork on the lunch menu. For my side I ordered rice and gravy – a natural go-with, I figured.

The Noble South in Downtown Mobile July 9, 2014The Noble South, located at 203 Dauphin Street in downtown Mobile, Ala., is fast becoming a dining destination. The restaurant’s small menu, which changes daily and seasonally, is a true farm-to-table menu in that all ingredients are sourced locally when possible. Chef Chris Rainosek describes the restaurant and its offerings Wednesday, July 9, 2014.

I was right. The pork was slow-cooked to tender perfection. The flavor was divine with a hint of white wine. The secret, I discovered later, was in the pork and how it is cooked. "Our secret? We buy really, really good pork and we braise it for about four hours," Rainosek said.

It begins with a dusting of seasoning and a quick, intense sear before it is cooked in a braising liquid highlighted by white wine and a host of aromatic seasonings. "We sell it for lunch only and it's proven to be very popular," chef said.

The rice was my favorite kind (white steamed) and the gravy that topped it was light flour-based gravy that was loaded with flavor. It's like the gravy that your mama used to make for Sunday dinner.

I ate it all and left not a grain of rice or a morsel of meat on the plate. It was, in short, the best thing I ate all week.

Restaurant: Noble South (Noble is the middle name of owner/chef Chris Rainosek's young son. South, well that's pretty obvious.)

Chef: Chris Rainosek

Menu: Upscale, new South cuisine with an emphasis on fresh, local and seasonal offerings. They have two menus – one for lunch and one for dinner – but everything on the menu is exciting and fresh.

Ambiance: Open and airy. Tall tables give it a bistro feel. The full-service bar was also calling my name for another time, another lunch when the boss isn't looking. The ceiling is open all the way to the roof, two full stories thus adding to the open feeling.

Seating capacity: About 52.

Cost: Not bad. Walkout price for my lunch with tea was $13.75.

Chef's words: "Our focus is to serve food that is sourced locally and regionally and our menu is based on seeing what we can do with what's around in the market now."

David Holloway's last word: They had me at pork and braised; two things that I am very fond of. The pork was tenderer than a mother's love and the rice and gravy were shot through with fresh, old-style flavor. I plan to go back and see if I can't find something else that will be the best thing I ate that week.

What's the best thing you ate this week? I'm eager to find out what you are eating these days, and I'm also open to suggestions about where you think I can go to get something memorable to eat.